See also

A diplomatic mission is a group of people from
one state or an
international
inter-governmental organization (such as the United
Nations) present in another state to represent the sending
state/organization in the receiving state. In practice, a
diplomatic mission usually denotes the permanent mission, namely
the office of a country's diplomatic representatives in the
capital city of another
country.

Naming

A permanent diplomatic mission is usually known as
an embassy, and the person in charge of the mission is known as an
ambassador. Missions
between Commonwealth
countries are known as High Commissions and their heads are
High
Commissioners.

All missions to the United
Nations are known simply as Permanent Missions, and the head of
such a mission is typically both a Permanent Representative and an
ambassador. Some countries have more particular naming for their
missions and staff: a Vatican mission
is headed by a Nuncio and
consequently known as an Apostolic
Nunciature, while Libya's missions were
for a long time known as People's Bureaus and the head of the
mission was a Secretary. (Libya has since switched back to standard
nomenclature.)

In the past a diplomatic mission headed by a
lower ranking official (an envoy or minister resident) was known as
a legation. Since the ranks of envoy and minister resident are
effectively obsolete, the designation of legation is no longer used
today. (See diplomatic
rank.)

In cases of dispute, it is common for a country
to recall its head of mission as a sign of its displeasure. This is
less drastic than cutting diplomatic relations completely, and the
mission will still continue operating more or less normally, but it
will now be headed by a chargé
d'affaires who may have limited powers. Note that for the
period of succession between two heads of missions, a chargé
d'affaires ad interim may be appointed as caretaker; this does not
imply any hostility to the host country.

A Consulate
is similar to (but not the same as) a diplomatic office, but with
focus on dealing with individual persons and businesses, as defined
by the
Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. A Consulate or
Consulate-General is generally a representative of the Embassy in
locales outside of the capital city. For instance, The British
Embassy to the United States is in Washington,
D.C., and there are British Consulates in Los Angeles,
New
York City, Houston, and so on.
The person in charge of a consulate or consulate-general is known
as a consul
or consul-general, respectively.

The term "embassy" is often used to refer to the
building or compound housing an ambassador's offices and staff.
Technically, "embassy" refers to the diplomatic delegation itself,
while the office building in which they work is known as a
chancery, but this distinction is rarely used in practice.
Ambassadors reside in ambassadorial
residences, which enjoy the same rights as missions.

Extraterritoriality

Under international
law, diplomatic missions enjoy an extraterritorial
status and thus, although remaining part of the host country's
territory, they are exempt from local law and in almost all
respects treated as being part of the territory of the home
country. They are also only required to pay taxes equal to their
respective countries' guidelines.

As the host country may not enter the
representing country's embassy without permission, embassies are
sometimes used by refugees escaping from either
the host country or a third country. For example, North Korean
nationals, who would be arrested and deported from China upon discovery,
have sought sanctuary at various third-country embassies in China.
Once inside the embassy, diplomatic channels can be used to solve
the issue and send the refugees to another country. Notable
violations of embassy extraterritoriality include the Iran
hostage crisis (1979–1981), the
Japanese embassy hostage crisis which took place in Lima, Peru 1996, the 2006
embassy burnings in Iran, Lebanon and
Syria of
Danish, Norwegian and Chilean embassies.

Role

The role of such a mission is to protect in the
receiving State the interests of the sending State and of its
nationals, within the limits permitted by international law;
negotiating with the Government of the receiving State as directed
by the sending State; ascertaining by lawful means conditions and
developments in the receiving State, and reporting thereon to the
Government of the sending State; promoting friendly relations
between the sending State and the receiving State, and developing
their economic, cultural and scientific relations.

Between members of the Commonwealth of Nations
there are no embassies, but High Commissions, as Commonwealth
nations share a special diplomatic relationship. It is generally
expected that an embassy of a Commonwealth country in a
non-Commonwealth country will do its best to provide diplomatic
services to citizens from other Commonwealth countries if the
citizen's country does not have an embassy in that country.
Canadian and Australian
nationals enjoy even greater cooperation between their respective
consular services, as outlined in
Canada/Australian Consular Services Sharing Agreement. The same
kind of procedure is also followed multilaterally by the member
states of the European
Union (EU). European citizens in need of consular help in a
country without diplomatic or consular representation of their own
country may turn to any consular or diplomatic mission of another
EU member state.

Countries that are not sovereign states may set
up offices abroad, as in the case of Hong Kong,
which government has set up
Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices in various locations. Such
offices assume some of the non-diplomatic functions of diplomatic
posts, such as promoting trade interests and providing assistance
to its citizens and residents. They are nevertheless not diplomatic
missions, their personnel are not diplomats and do not have
diplomatic visas, although there may be legislation providing for
personal immunities and tax privileges, as in the case of the
HKETOs in London and Toronto, for example.

Some cities may host more than one mission from
the same country. An example is Rome, where many
states maintain missions to
Italy, another to the Holy See and
even another to the
Sovereign Military Order of Malta. It is not customary for
these missions to share premises nor diplomatic personnel.
Presently only the Iraqi missions to Italy and the
Holy See
share premises; however, two ambassadors are appointed, one to each
country. Geneva, a Swiss city
hosting many international
organizations, also has many missions.